Scenes of police violence erupted at an anti-LGBTQ gathering in the post-Soviet country’s capital.
A senior Moldovan opposition lawmaker has expressed shock over violent clashes between police and Orthodox Christian protestors at an anti-LGBTQ rally in Chisinau on Sunday. Videos circulating online appear to show law enforcement using force against demonstrators, including an Orthodox priest being knocked to the ground and a man with a child being forcibly detained.
“We strongly condemn what has happened today in Chisinau,” Marina Tauber, a prominent critic of the country’s pro-European government, told RT. “We are demanding an investigation and punishment for the policemen who acted as we have seen today.”
The clashes erupted after an unsanctioned LGBTQ march, attended by activists waving rainbow flags, was met by counter-protesters, primarily Orthodox Christians carrying religious icons and crosses. Police were deployed in large numbers, and initially allowed the LGBTQ march to proceed, but later intervened when tensions escalated between the two groups.
“Where is this democracy? Why are people who stand for traditional family values, the things most important for our country, being treated as enemies?”
